Crowd gathers for international festival

A huge crowd gathered Wednesday at the Wright Conference Room on the Crowder College Campus for the annual International Festival.

Todd G. Higdon

A huge crowd gathered Wednesday at the Wright Conference Room on the Crowder College Campus for the annual International Festival.

Visitors and college students had the opportunity to visit with international students, learn about their countries, see a talent show, a PowerPoint presentation and then taste some of the student's foods from their home countries.

Around 39 countries are represented at the college.

"Once every year, we have several countries represented at Crowder, so we all just come together," said Esther Aidelomon, student ambassador and president of the international club. "It is to show everyone what it is like to be international students and what our countries are like."

Countries ranged from South Korea, Nigeria, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Canada, Uruguay and Japan, to name a few.

"Some people just think, 'oh, where are you from?'" she said. "Some people think that Nigeria is a state in Africa, nobody knows that it is actually a country. This is what we wear in our country and eat in our country. We give them a total landscape, this is us."

The event started at 11 a.m. and continued for a couple of hours.

Aidelomon, who is from Nigeria, came directly to Crowder to study. She explained what her home country was like.

"I grew up in a city, we kind of have same things that America," she said. "The city that I am from we have about 7.6 million people. The kind of transportation that we have is bicycles, motorcycles and bus. We also have a president, just like America does. We have a vice president, we have a house of representatives, just like America's."

Overall, Aidelomon said this event is a great thing for everyone.

"People want to know things about you," she said. "Some people have not had the opportunity to leave this country. So we have actually seen both worlds. You want to be proud of that, I am internationally, this is where I am from, and this is what I do in my country."

During the tasting part of the event, Aidelomon made one of her favorite dishes.

"Fried rice and chicken, but our chicken we make it with tomatoes, pepper and onions. We just fry that and mix it with chicken."